Shielding

How to spell shielding

9 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce shielding

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does shielding mean?

1. verbProtecting or covering something to keep it from harm or exposure.
2. nounMaterial or a barrier used to block radiation, electromagnetic interference, or other harmful exposure.

Shielding in a sentence

• verb

  She stood shielding her eyes from the bright afternoon sun.

• noun

  The cable needed extra shielding to stop interference on the signal.

• verb

  The hedge was shielding the garden from the strong coastal wind.

• noun

  Engineers added lead shielding around the scanner to absorb the radiation.

Where does shielding come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The base word shield comes from the Old English scield or scild, which named the round wooden board a warrior carried to fend off blows. It traces back to a Proto-Germanic root, reconstructed as skelduz, that meant something like a thin board or plank, the same family of words that gave English 'scale' in the sense of a flat layer. Across centuries the noun broadened from the literal battlefield object to any protective barrier, and the verb 'to shield', meaning to protect or cover, followed naturally. Adding the productive suffix -ing produced both the ongoing-action form and a useful noun for protective material, especially in electrical and nuclear contexts from the twentieth century onward. The spelling keeps the classic i-before-e pattern of shield, which is the main thing to remember when writing it.

How the word is built

• shield (Old English scield: protective board)
• -ing (verbal/noun suffix)